Thursday, June 28, 2018
An Exciting First Day at Villa Sasetti at La Pietra in Florence:
Exploring Florence at the Crack of Dawn with my Camera:
Having spent a whole week in Florence about 10 years ago with my friend Amy Tobin, I was not a very frenetic tourist this time round. However, there were some places I had not found the time to see then…this visit was a good occasion to tick those items off my To-Do List. I was also aware of the fact that since I would be spending most of my day at the conference, I would not really have much time to enjoy the city on my own.
Hence, I decided to wake up early each morning and explore just one small part of Florence while most tourists were having a vacation lie-in. It turned out to be a brilliant idea. I awoke at 6.00 am, showered and dressed and armed only with a map and my camera, I set out to explore the area around the Duomo which is really the very heart of Florence. It was only a 15- minute walk along Via Cavour from Hotel San Gallo Palace to the Duomo and I adored the fact that there was no one on the streets as I hurried along.
As always happens, my first sight of the Duomo, the main church of Florence, was just breathtaking. Its stupendous size, the centuries it took to build it—starting from the medieval period when the oldest part of the church was built--the varied colors of marble with which it is clad and then, unmistakably, the stunning spectacle of the brick-colored dome that soars into the sky—the handiwork of Filippo Brunelleschi—is so grand that it literally stops you in your tracks. The joy of having the piazza to myself so that that I could take all the pictures I wanted while the light was still soft and lacked the glare and shadows that would develop by noon, was so exhilarating that I was in ecstasy. Needless to say, I took a lot of pictures, especially of the sculpted figures (replicas, as the original are in the Museo del Duomo) that adorn the façade.
I walked around the Baptistry, the octagonal structure that stands right in front of the Duomo and which hides the baptismal font at which such Florentine luminaries as Dante Alighieri were baptized, to take more pictures. I was disappointed to find that its most striking feature—the bronze front doors—the handiwork of Lorenzo Ghiberti—were being refurbished and were, therefore, concealed.
I also circumnavigated the Duomo, all the while dodging the cleaning crews and trucks that spruced up the city for another sightseeing day. In taking my stroll around to admire the Campanile and its marble façade, I passed by the sculpture of Brunelleschi gazing up at his miraculous dome with such a bemused expression on his face as to wonder how he could possibly have achieved it. Sitting right by him is the sculpted figure of Pope Leo X, his patron, who set him the well-nigh impossible task of creating a dome that would soar above the city.
The Piazza of Santissima Annunziata:
Going by instinct and of what I remembered of Florence from past visits, I sauntered into the accompanying piazza, named for Santissima Annunziata, who has a convent named for her. The piazza is one of the most commanding in Florence. It is anchored by the equestrian statue of Ferdinando I and flanked by two important structures—a medieval hospital that provided health care and proclaimed its function through varied ceramic rondels in blue and white that depict parts of the human body in affliction. The other structure is the famed Academia Museum whose most renowned occupant is David, sculpted by Michelangelo (a replica stands in the Piazza della Signoria).
I have to admit that I simply could not resist entering the convent of Santissima Annunziata and I did so by going through the beautifully painted porticoed entrance that led me into the church. Inside, I was stunned. I was gazing at a Baroque church so elaborately decorated as to tire the eye. The ceiling was a wooden affair, painted and gilded brilliantly. The walls were heavily frescoed around a number of capellas (or chapels). At the side of the main altar is a secondary chapel that is fully clad in silver and hung thickly with silver swinging Oriental lamps as in a mosque. It was simply mind-blowing and I was stunned that I had never seen this before. This is what happens when one leaves the beaten tourist track and wanders down what Robert Frost calls “the road not taken”. It was then 7.30 am and the single bell that shattered the silence of the dimly-lit church announced the start of Mass. A red-cassocked priest arrived and made his way to the silver altar where he proceeded to say Mass in Italian. I stayed for a few minutes, but then I simply had to return to my hotel for breakfast. I, therefore, could not stay for the entire Mass.
On my way back to my hotel, I passed by the Piazza de San Marco which also has an equestrian sculpture in the center—a monument to Manfredo Fanti. I would be visiting the Convent of San Marco very shortly to see the frescoes of Fra Angelico, so I did not linger long. I did step briefly into the church and found that it lacked the Baroque sumptuousness of the one in the adjoining piazza. Then, I hurried back on Via Cavour to my hotel and went straight for breakfast. I was thrilled with my early-morning ventures in Florence and I resolved to get out even earlier tomorrow.
Breakfast at Hotel San Gallo Palace:
Breakfast at my hotel was a very substantial affair. As I met my colleagues, I indulged in muesli with peach yogurt, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and sausages and decaff Americano coffee that filled me up, well and truly, to face the rigors of the day.
A half hour later, I was outside the hotel and piling into the shuttle bus that was arranged to take us to La Pietra, which we reached about 10 minutes later.
First Day of Conference:
Our well-planned day of presentations at La Pietra on the topic “Interrogating the Urban”, showcased the research work of so many of my NYU colleagues from around the world in several short sessions that rushed by as the day wore on. The technique used was that of flip and flash which gave each speaker just 5 minutes to speak but left a great deal of time for discussion.
Lunch was a truly Italian affair—entirely vegetarian but featuring salads dressed delicately with oil and balsamic vinegar, couscous, tomato and eggplant lasagna, pesto lasagna and grilled vegetables with a divine vin santo mousse for dessert. Needless to say, we all savored our lunch delicacies but did find the time to enjoy the sun in the gardens outside Villa Sasetti. More sessions followed after lunch.
Audio Recordings on a Pedagogical Tour of Florence:
By the late afternoon, our groups split into splinter groups to follow the lead of NYU-Florence’s full-time faculty members who know the city well and who designed and planned pedagogical walking tours to introduce us to some lesser-known aspects of it. I chose to follow a colleague called Scott Palmer who was going to introduce us to the concept of using audio recordings as part of our classroom instruction. He led us out into the city to the Piazza Santa Maria Novella which is the huge square right outside the main train and bus station where he paused right outside the main façade of the striking church to point out to us the varied elements that would make a good sound recording, eg. horns honking, pigeons cooing, music emanating from a boom box, etc. Once he had explained the principles, he set up the assignment of breaking up into smaller groups to go to landmarks in the city and try to record (using our I-phones) some of the sounds that assailed our ears.
Accordingly, we walked towards the Mercato Centrale, which is the largest and oldest indoor market in Florence. In years gone by, this was the main market for the purchase of fruit and veg, meat and fish, cheese and wine. Today, the indoor market with its soaring ceiling and double-storey interior has been refurbished. The lower level (not open to the public after the market closes) still carries fresh produce and other gastronomic merchandise; the upper storey (reached by an escalator) has been converted, in recent times, into a gourmet food and restaurant space in the style of Mario Batali’s Eataly—patrons can walk through various kiosks that sell everything from bruschetta, cheese, wine, salami and other cured meats, fresh and cooked fish and seafood, desserts like panna cotta and tiramisu and, of course, the ubiquitous gelato. It offered a lot of opportunity to make interesting sound recordings (as did the leather open-air market outside that I found to be run entirely by South Asians from Pakistan and North India, whereas ten years ago, all the salesmen were from Western Africa). After we had recorded and made notes, we decided to split. I was off to meet my friends Delyse, Nafisa and Shahida and to hook up with them, while three of my colleagues who comprised my group, decided to go back to our hotel to complete the recording assignment.
Visiting the Church of Santa Maria Novella:
Scott’s commentary had introduced me to the significance of the Church of Santa Maria Novella which, I realized, I had not visited on previous trips to Florence. The church was filled with important single works of art but it also held significance for scholars of medieval Italian literature. I had about an hour or two before I was supposed to meet my friends outside the Duomo—accordingly, I decided to use the time productively by buying a ticket for 7 euros that would allow me to enter the church.
The Church of Santa Maria Novella dates back to the mid-13thcentury when the Dominican order decided to build a monastery on the spot. It is a deceptive property in terms of space for it is only when one is inside the church that one realizes how many different ‘segments’ comprise this property. Of the not-to-be-missed art items in the church are Giotto’s Crucifixthat dominates the nave as it hands high up looking as if it were painted yesterday. On the altar, a bronze crucifix by Donatello catches attention. Behind the altar, frescoes by Domenico Ghirlandaio and his student, the young Michelangelo, are quite stunning indeed. It is matched by a crucifixion by Fillipo Brunelleschi that presents a decidedly emaciated Christ hanging from a cross. Of the little chapels or capellas that are part of this church, the Capello Strozzi has an important literary connection. It forms the first chapter of the medieval Italian epic by Boccaccio called The Decameron in which ten young Florentines decide to escape the Black Death in 1348 by fleeing to the Tuscan countryside. They make plans to launch upon their exodus by meeting at the Capella Strozzi in the Church of Santa Maria Novella. Little wonder that generations of students of Italian and medieval literature have made their way to the chapel as a tribute to Boccaccio where the frescoes by Nardo di Cicone were inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy.Two other paintings of deep importance in this church as the Ruccelai Madonna by Duccio and The Trinityby Massaccio which provided the template for generations of artists who interpreted the same Biblical themes. If I thought that I could see this church in about an hour, I was sorely mistaken. It would take a whole morning to do justice to the multitude of art works that this glorious church offers, not just within it but spread around its sprawling cloisters as the space was a working Dominican monastery for centuries. In the cloisters, one of the most remarkable set of frescoes are by Paolo Uccello that depict Scenes from the Life of Noah in apartments once occupied by Eleanor of Toledo. To find all these works took me on a treasure hunt of sorts as I used the map to identify the hidden spots in which they might be found. Still, a whole two hours are required to savor these Renaissance works. I felt deeply satisfied that I managed to find the time to see this world-famous receptacle of masterpieces on this visit to Florence.
Off to the Piazalle Michelangelo:
My aim on this trip to Florence was to make sure I covered those aspects of the tourist trail that I had neglected to pursue on previous visits. Hence, this time round, I was keen to get to the Piazalle Michelangelo, a high hill-top spot that offers stunning views of the city of Florence lying serenely across the River Arno. My students who had spent a semester studying in Florence, had told me, several years ago, that a visit to this spot was a Must-Do and, ten years later, I was following their lead.
Accordingly, I met my friends Delyse, Nafisa and Shahida as planned—outside the Duomo (which was a short and easy walk for me from the Piazza Santa Maria Novella). On cue, we had our reunion. They looked well and truly beat having spent the entire day on their feet scouring the city as well as climbing the 400-odd steps that comprise the rise to the bell tower called the Campanile when none of them were spring chickens anymore! I took them for a quick stroll around the piazza to see the sculptures of Brunelleschi and Pope Leo X before we decided to find a cab that would take us to the Piazalle Michelangelo. We discovered, of course, that cabs cannot be hailed on the street. This left us with little choice but to walk to the main taxi line at the Santa Maria Novella station from where, about a half hour later, we were seated in a cab that took us there.
Watching the Sun Set over Florence at the Piazalle Michelangelo:
There was still a considerable amount of daylight when we piled out of the cab that climbed steadily up the hill leading to Piazalle Michelangelo; which was why we were surprised to find that such a large crowd had already accumulated to colonize the stairs that overlook the balustraded terrace over the River Arno. We were fortunate to find seats on these steps and we settled down to watch the sun disappear while indulging in some shameless people-watching. The bridges over the Arno were painted in a wild sunset palette—of these the Ponte Vecchio, the pedestrian bridge, was the most picturesque. We spent a while spotting the varied landmarks that we had grown to know and love—the dominant dome of the Duomo, the white marble conical cap of the Baptistry, the Uffizi Gallery with its Vassari Corridor extending across the Arno, the Pitti Palace and the Boboli Gardens, the Church of Santa Croce which was nearest to us. How marvelous it was to be able to assess the grand achievements of Medieval and Renaissance architecture from this spot! As the sun sank further in the western sky, it was painted wildly but thick cloud cover did interrupt the luminosity of the scene. We clicked many pictures and then, when it was clear that the sun had set behind grey low-lying clouds on the horizon, the crowd began to disperse slowly. We found our way back to the piazza where a replica of Michelangelo’s David(a shorter, squatter version) was a focal point.
Dinner at I Latini:
Without losing any more time, we decided to find a cab that would take us to our next destination—the restaurant called I Latini on Via Pachetti, which has gained enormous fame and has been recommended by no less than Nigella Lawson as the place for dinner in Florence. My friend Amy and I have fond memories of dining in this space, ten years ago, where we were well entertained by the jolly proprietor who had plied us with amuse bouche and vin santo at the conclusion of a very good meal.
Since we had Nafisa and Shahida with us, we had to order carefully and in order not to offend their Islamic sensibilities, Delyse and I did not order the specialty of the house—the smoked hams (prosciutto de Parma) that characteristically hang from the rafters. Instead, we decided to split a house salad and a serving of penne with the house rage (a meat and sausage tomato-based sauce) that was flavorful and filling. Our friends found ricotta and spinach stuffed ravioli that was also delicious and met with their diet restrictions.
With our meal sitting happily in our tummies, it was after 9.30 pm and we were ready to call it a day. We managed to hail a passing cab who dropped my friends off to their hotel and then drove five minutes further to drop me at mine. It was after 11.00 pm that I finally got into bed after what had been a hugely eventful day and a most satisfying return to one of the cities that I most adore in the world.
Until tomorrow, arrivederci…
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